~ Oh! The things you'll find…

Downton Abbey Watch Party

Have you been watching Downton Abbey? Seasons 1 and 2 are available online and on disc; Season 3 started just a few weeks ago. Sunday nights won’t be the same!

Our friends held a watching party at their house for the start of Season 3, replete with costumes and period appropriate food! We enjoyed scones with clotted cream (delicious but dangerous), tea sandwiches, and quail wrapped in bacon. Daisy and Mrs. Patmore would have been proud!

We anticipated the wedding of Mary to William as much as everyone else, so we were prepared with our own wedding cake and champagne!

I took the opportunity to break out this fabulous dress from the 1930s and some sparkly jewelry. The brooch I’m wearing is really a stomacher, but it can be worn many ways. The earrings are screw-back and are probably from the late 1940s to early 1950s, and they’re surprisingly comfortable! I went so far as to attempt Edwardian-appropriate hair and makeup–I felt like I was having a Lady Sybil moment! I did learn that Edwardian women didn’t wear makeup as a show of wealth. Only the poor had the “misfortune” of sun exposure; the rich had alabaster skin that, at times, was nearly translucent, allowing their veins to be seen. This is where the phrase “blue bloods” comes from.

I’ll leave you with a little advice from the Dowager Countess herself: